05-06 Small

Chatting with owners of homes in the Lake Chapala district of Mexico, I discovered they all had installed solar on the rooves of their homes at a cost of about $6K US. Assume this kind of installation in Canada would cost about $25K.
And, this was done not because of their concern about the environment, but because they all got a pay back of about four years on their investment.
Surplus solar energy generated is fed into the local electricity grid using what they called net metering. In other words what they feed into the grid reduces their electrical bills by about half.
But, the newsy element of this story is that small-scale solar development is a major employer. “Solar installer” jobs are being created as other technologies like artificial intelligence are destroying jobs.
For 25 years of my working life, I was the leader of a small business advocacy group called the Canadian Federation of Independent Business. So, every change in technology and markets was examined so I could understand the impact of these changes on the development of small-scale enterprises.
It was the global economy in the 1970s. Free trade in the 1980s. The Internet in the 1990s. And today, it is renewables replacing fossil fuels.
What they call PV solar or photovoltaic solar that converts light into electricity will be the most profound in its implications as it catches fire. Why? Because it will mean small firms installing solar on the rooves of homes in communities across the nation and around the world. The economic and social implications are profound.
But what is even more profound is the amount of PV solar research being undertaken by governments, universities and private companies everywhere. The result is new and improved solar technologies that are smaller, cheaper, and more widely adaptable.
And, expect politicians to do bold things.
Like passing laws to ensure all new homes and buildings have installed solar. So, a $500K home costs another $10K. This is the law in San Francisco. And, it will soon become law in cities across the United States. It is the economical way to go green.
What is so powerful about the changes coming in PV solar is that the cost of electricity from small solar on roof tops is not much different than big solar from solar farms.
PV solar is a “Small is Beautiful” story.